Olympic Scandals: Rower Denies Being 'Excited' During Medal Ceremony

Aug. 7, 2012

Harry How/Getty Images

Among the gold medals, tears and record-breaking moments at the Olympics this week, there was also scandal. From pot-laced baked goods to potential arousal on the medals podium, click through to see the biggest scandals of the week from London.

U.S. Rower Denies Being "Excited" on Podium

As the U.S. rowing team stood on the Olympic podium to receive its bronze medals, internet speculation buzzed that Henrik Rummel, second from left, looked a little more "excited" than the others to have come in third place.

In response, Rummel took to the website Reddit, where the photo had skyrocketed to the second most-clicked-on item, to clarify that he was not actually sexually aroused at the prospect of winning.

"This is me and I swear it's not erect!" Rummel wrote on the website. "I don't know why it ended up in that position but there you go."

The rower also posted a photo of himself to assure Reddit users that he was the one posting.

Judo Fighter Expelled for Marijuana Use

American judo fighter Nick Delpopolo was booted from the Olympic team after testing positive for marijuana following his competition on July 30, according to Olympics organizers. Depopolo said he ate the pot accidentally before the games began.

"My positive test was caused by my inadvertent consumption of food that I did not realize had been baked with marijuana, before I left for the Olympic Games," Delpopolo said in a statement released by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"I look forward to representing my country in the future, and will rededicate myself to being the best judo athlete that I can be," he said.

Greek, Swiss Athletes Expelled for Racist Tweets

Greek triple-jumper Paraskevi "Voula" Papachristou was expelled from her country's Olympic team for a Tweet perceived as racist.

Papachristou, 23, was preparing to head to London for her first Olympic Games when she posted a joke to her Twitter feed. It was about the West Nile virus, and appeared to mock Greece's African immigrant population.

"With so many Africans in Greece, at least the mosquitoes of West Nile will eat homemade food!!!" she tweeted.

Three days later, the Olympic hopeful apologized, but it wasn't enough to save her spot on the team.

The Hellenic Delegations' Administration Board decided to remove her from the team, citing "comments that go against the values and ideals of Olympism."

Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella also came under fire for a Tweet he posted hours after Switzerland lost to South Korea.

Morganella wrote that South Koreans "can go burn" and referred to them as a "bunch of mongoloids."

The 23-year-old player later issued a statement of apology, saying he made "a huge error."

The soccer player was sent home from the games for violating the International Olympic Committee's code of conduct.

Athlete's Boyfriend Reportedly Has Neo-Nazi Ties

German rower Nadja Drygalla left the Olympic village after it was revealed her boyfriend might have ties to an extreme right-wing party in Germany.

The rower had already finished competing in the women's eight crew race when the allegations surfaced.

Drygalla agreed to leave the Olympic village to ensure she was not a "burden for the Olympic team," according to Michael Vesper, general director of the national Olympic association.

It wasn't the first time Drygalla has been associated with extremists.

The former police trainee resigned from the force in September after it was revealed she had friends who belong to a far-right party in Germany.

Sprinter Expelled for Sleeping With Wife

Kim Collins, a sprinter from St. Kitts, was dropped from the team for spending the night with his wife in a hotel, according to a report in The Daily Mail.

The night before the 100-meter race, it was announced Collins would not be representing his nation.

"I would have had better luck if I'd gone off with some chick and came back in time," he told BBC's Radio 5.
"They're asking me to abandon my wife for my team, it's not going to happen. This is how it ends, on a really sad note."

Badminton Players Disqualified for Throwing Match

It was a stunt so glaring, so obvious that the crowds jeered and the referees tried to intervene.

It began when Chinese top-seeded women Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang starting serving into the net and missed easy volleys. Already guaranteed a slot in the next round, they wanted to let South Koreans Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na finish at the top of Group A so they could avoid playing Chinese compatriots and second seeds Tian Qingand Zhao Yunlei at least until the final. If the strategy worked, China could win gold and silver.

The other South Korean pair, third seeds Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, tried to orchestrate defeat in their game against Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii. They seemed to be trying to avoid Yu and Wang in the quarterfinals.

It gets worse. The Indonesians, spotting the shenanigans, tried to play along and lose, too.

The crowd was incensed. As were the TV commentators.

It did not take long for Badminton World Federation to respond. All eight players were kicked out the Olympic games, accused of "not using one's best efforts to win" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport."

Australian Rower Sent Home for Damaging Shops

Josh Booth, an Olympic rower, was sent home for damaging two businesses outside London.

Alcohol was reportedly involved in the incident, which left Booth with a $2,175 bill to repair the broken windows. The rower damaged a restaurant and an engineering firm in the town of Egham, just outside of London.

Chris Fydler, Australian deputy team chief, called the incident "clearly embarrassing" and said the team expects "higher standards from our athletes."

British Cyclist Philip Hindes Says He Fell on Purpose

Olympic officials said they were aware that a British cyclist said he deliberately crashed his bike during a race so it could be started over, but have no plans to investigate or change the results of the race.The British team won the restarted race.

British cyclist Philip Hindes admits he fell on purpose at the first bend of the team sprint final against France, forcing a restart.

"If we have a bad start, we need to crash to get a restart," he told reporters.

"I just crashed. I did it on purpose to get a restart, just to have the fastest ride. I did it. So it was all planned, really," Hindes said immediately after the race, according to The Associated Press. He backtracked at the news conference later, saying he lost control of his bike.

U.S. Men's Basketball Coach Denies Running Up Score in 156-73 Rout

After the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team crushed Nigeria by more than doubling its score, the Americans found themselves playing defense against accusations that their record-setting 156-73 rout was unsportsmanlike.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski denied that the Americans intended to embarrass their opponents. Instead, he said, that the Nigerians could reasonably have been offended had his team had not played their hardest.

"You have to take a shot every 24 seconds, and the shots we took happened to be hit," Krzyzewski told reporters after the game.

On top of scoring more points than any other Olympic team in a single game, the NBA players eclipsed the 79-point record of the largest margin of victory in an Olympic game, set in a game between Cuba and the undefeated 1992 Dream Team led by Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.

China Angry About Doping Accusation

More than a few eyebrows were raised when Ye Shiwen, a 16-year-old Chinese swimmer, knocked five seconds off her personal best in the 400-meter individual medley. She even swam the last lap faster than U.S. medal winner Ryan Lochte.

Commentators watching the race called it "unbelievable." But John Leonard, head of the American Swimming Coaches Association, went a big step further, saying her race "was reminiscent of some old East German swimmer."

Call that the Olympic equivalent of a nuclear warhead.

Anyone old enough to remember Soviet and East German competitors at the Olympics will remember the hulking bodies of their athletes in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and the doping scandals that constantly discredited them.

"If there are suspicions, then please lay them out using facts and data," Xu Qi, head of the Chinese swimming team. told the state news agency Xinhua. "Don't use your own suspicions to knock down others. This shows lack of respect for athletes and for Chinese swimming."

The final world from Olympic officials cleared the Chinese swimmer's name.

"She's clean. That's the end of the story," said Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association reporting on the results of official drug tests.

Jordyn Wieber's Coach Calls Elimination an 'Injustice'

The elimination of U.S. gymnast superstar Jordyn Wieber from the individual all-around final at the London Olympics didn't sit well with her coach, saying the format of the Olympics competition is an "injustice."

Wieber's U.S. teammate, Gabrielle Douglas, went on to win the gold medal in the women's all-around competition.

Wieber, the 17-year-old gymnast from DeWitt, Mich., who entered the Games as the leader and star of Team USA's "Fabulous Five" and the current world champion, failed to qualify for the individual all-around title after uncharacteristic slip-ups cost her one-tenth of a point and put her in third place behind teammates Aly Raisman and Douglas, respectively. Countries can enter just two gymnasts in the all-around final, so by the rules Wieber was out.

"We have always known the 2 per country rule, we are not crying of spilt milk, yet it makes it difficult to explain how the 4th best AA finisher, the former world champion, does not get a shot at fulfilling her dream, just because her country happens to be incredibly strong," her coach, John Geddert, wrote in a Facebook posting. "The sting of this injustice is painful and for the record I have voiced this opinion time and time again. ... To penalize an athlete or country for being OUTSTANDING is not in the spirit of sport and certainly not the spirit of the Olympic Games."